Use Your Voice

By James Addis, World Vision Magazine

One of the drawbacks of working for World Vision magazine is you sometimes get to edit a ton of bad news. Here’s some of the stuff that has passed across my desk in the last few weeks: millions made homeless by floods in Pakistan and China, more massive flooding in Romania, devastating tropical storms in Central America, an outbreak of cholera in Mozambique, and millions starving in Niger. In short, the sort of material that can make you want to jump off the nearest tall building without a parachute.

The trouble with this kind of news is that it can narrowly focus your attention on the big headaches of the moment. But take a look at longer-term global trends, and you might be surprised to learn that they present a more optimistic picture. That’s why I find reporting on the Millennium Development Goals a healthy antidote.

By Mike Bailey, World Vision

“Every day counts.” Conny Lenneberg, policy director for World Vision summed up the crisis facing children under one year old after three weeks of diarrhea, dehydration and going without enough food. “These little ones are so fragile now; if we don’t get aid to them soon many will die.”

We are in a camp for displaced persons north of Mazaffragar in Punjab province. Shadia and Anim have been telling us what happened the night they abandoned their homes in Suzama village to the rising flood water.

By Michael Arunga, World Vision Emergency Communicator

Heavy rains are mercilessly pounding Niger. They have swept some villages clean, taking away all possessions that include the little relief food that had been distributed to an already food and nutrition famished country.

ACT NOW:Throughout the month of August, make it a goal to call your Senators once a week!

Thanks to everyone who called in to your representatives in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to voice your support for getting the Child Protection Compact Act back on the agenda. As of this week, we have heard back from almost every Senator's office mentioned in the advocacy action alert last week. Your voices have been heard and the Senators are responding.

We just received word that the Child Protection Compact Act was taken off the agenda for the upcoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting. No reason was given for the removal but we need to let our leaders know this is unacceptable.

Call the following senators NOW and tell them to put the Child Protection Compact Act (S3184) back on the schedule for the Foreign Relations Committee.

Islamabad, Pakistan - World Vision is planning a rapid response in Pakistan as unprecedented monsoon rains have triggered flash floods killing more than 1,300 people. With hundreds of people missing and more rain expected, World Vision fears the death toll could rise further. The relief group hopes to begin distributions of food and clean water as early as tomorrow, but can only use small trucks to transport aid because roads and bridges have been damaged and remain blocked by standing water.

Children and women who are suffering from poor health and unhygienic conditions are most at risk, the aid group warns. World Vision’s response will target families in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North West Frontier Province), where thousands of mud houses have been washed away, leaving people living along roadsides, roof tops and seeking refuge on higher ground. The heavy rains and flooding have also caused significant losses to livestock and damage to agricultural crops, fields and warehouses for grain storage.

"There is now a real danger of the spread of water-borne diseases and possibly cholera, as well as complications such as respiratory problems and skin allergies," said Shaharyar Bangash, World Vision's program manager, from Peshawar.

By Craig Jaggers, World Vision health policy advisor

For most children in Africa, mosquito bites that pass on malaria are a lethal threat. And now, programs to combat this killer disease are at risk as a House appropriations subcommittee just bit off nearly 70 percent of the increase in the president's request for malaria programs -- an amount already short of the $1 billion a year commitment the United States made in 2008.

If action isn't taken, malaria funding could be limited to $615 million in fiscal year 2011, $70 million below the president's request and far short of the congressional promise to provide $1 billion a year.

ACT NOW: Ask Congress to keep its promises and protect funds to end malaria!

These cuts are not merely for the sake of fiscal austerity, as the committee provided increases above the president's request in other accounts.

This is a critical moment, and for those of us who care about protecting children from this lethal disease, a time for action. It's not too late to provide more funding for malaria, but Congress needs to hear that people care. The full House of Representatives will need to vote on the appropriations bill, and the Senate has not yet taken action on the appropriations bill affecting global health. Action now could make all the difference.

ACT NOW: Ask Congress to keep its promises and protect funds to end malaria!

By Lauren Seibert, World Vision ACT:S Fellow

I came home from college in May to find my sister reading “Half The Sky,” a book by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn that explores the oppression of women across the world, focusing especially on sex trafficking and gender-based violence. “You should read this,” my sister prodded me. Dutifully, I plunked it on top of the stack of books I planned to read this summer.

OUR VOICES COUNT! Thanks to many of your advocacy actions, Congress has passed the "Conflict Minerals Act." By passing this bill, Congress took an important step today toward giving American consumers and companies assurance their laptop and cell phone purchases won't fund violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Critical provisions addressing so-called "conflict minerals" were included in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 passed by Congress. These provisions will require companies to file documentation with the Security and Exchange Commission, demonstrating that the minerals purchased from the DRC or adjoining countries are not sourced from a conflict zone. These filings will be subject to independent audits to make sure they are accurate and legitimate.

ACT NOW: Thank Congress for passing the Conflict Minerals Trade Act!

By passing the financial reform bill, Congress took an important step today toward giving American consumers and companies assurance their laptop and cell phone purchases won’t fund violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Critical provisions addressing so-called ‘conflict minerals’ were included in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 passed by Congress. These provisions will require companies to file documentation with the Security and Exchange Commission, demonstrating that the minerals purchased from the DRC or adjoining countries are not sourced from a conflict zone. These filings will be subject to independent audits to make sure they are accurate and legitimate.

ACT NOW: